Web Marketing Services Richmond

Web design and advertising are very important marketing devices, especially with the proliferation of web technologies, social media and mobile devices. It is the way to connect to every potential customer imaginable, and web marketing firms have the tools to place your brand and image, front and center. Find out more about local web marketing firms by checking the listings and info below.

26 Ways to Increase Your Website's Conversion Rate

1. Web Statistics Packages – most web businesses have one but most don’t use it to its potential. Find out how long people are spending on your site, what keywords people search by, which page they leave at, and where people click on the screen. An excellent free option is Google Analytics.

2. Eyetracking – where do people look on your site? Maybe many don’t see the important registration button or spend too long looking at the ads instead of your site? ClickHeat is a free open source heatmap statistics application.

3. Click Mapping – this refers to where people click. What action do you want people to take when they visit your website? Are too many people clicking on unimportant links? Or are people skeptical and clicking on your ‘About Us’ page to find out more? Click Mapping can provide an invaluable insight into what your visitors do and what they are thinking.

4. Surveys – don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from your customers. No one knows why they bought your product better than them.

5. Copy Your Competitors – this shouldn’t be your main strategy but if one of your competitors is doing something right then don’t be afraid to copy it. Copying their good points and improving on their bad points can be an effective strategy in the short-term.

6. Product Placement – identify your top selling products and make sure that they are positioned at the top of the relevant product pages. These products are obviously popular so make sure visitors to your website actually see them.

7. Top Sellers Web Page – go one step further and create a web page of your top-selling products. It uses the concept of safety in numbers. People feel reassured when they know that other people have purchased the product that interests them.

8. Have a Guarantee – buying online is still seen as risky by many people, especially when it’s something that traditionally needed to be seen first and tried first, such as clothes. Have a guarantee and make it as generous as possible. Many people won’t take it up, but the increase is sales could be significant.

9. Phone Number – display a phone number in a prominent position, preferably on the home page and not tucked away on the ‘Contact Us’ page. People like to know that if they are any problems they can speak to someone so make sure they know that you have a contact phone number. Don’t worry, hardly anyone will actually call the number.

10. Testimonials – many businesses don’t bother with testimonials because they say that anyone could fake them so their customers wouldn’t believe them anyway. The evidence actually shows that people do value testimonials, particularly those from the media. To increase the credibility of your customer testimonials try to include their full name and even a photo if possible.

Blog Marketing (Blogvertising) - using blogs as a marketing tool

A new blog appears every second, with there now being tens of millions of blogs worldwide. In the UK alone there are over 700,000 blogs.

Research by Technorati revealed that 13% of blogs that they track are updated every week, and over half of new bloggers are still writing posts three months after they started. Blogging has grown so rapidly that one in every 200 web visits is now to a blog.

Whilst many blogs have a very small readership as a collective force they can have significant influence. They often amplify certain stories or messages, and occasionally uncover new stories.

For example, in July 2005 bloggers exposed Guardian trainee reporter Dilpazier Aslam’s membership of a radical and anti-Semitic Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir. Being able to tap into the power of blogs can be very beneficial, a term now named Blogvertising.

Blogvertising

Using bloggers as marketing tools is tricky because many are opposed to being used as an advertising medium. However, the growth of pay per post is threatening to change this, with companies able to submit ‘opportunities’ about which bloggers can write about for a monetary reward.

This form of marketing is controversial amongst the blogging community, not least because it threatens the impartiality and credibility of blogs, but it can work very well when looking to create buzz or even for search engine optimisation.

The power of blogs can also be harnessed to seed viral videos or games as well as link building. This is an advertising channel that is likely to grow very rapidly over the next few years. Blogs are increasingly becoming more mass market and early adopters will gain invaluable insights into the emerging channel, as well as cost effective sales. It can be expected that the cost of advertising on blogs will grow rapidly as it becomes more mainstream.

In the UK, the number of blogvertising opportunities is still limited, but some of the larger players such as MSN Spaces have huge volume potential. MSN Spaces are offering untargeted text links and banners for £1 CPM and £7 CPM, respectively.

It’s estimated that around two-thirds of consumer product sales are now directly influenced by word-of-mouth but increasingly companies are realising that it’s not enough just to wait for satisfied customers to recommend your company. More so than ever ‘fuel has to be added to the flames’ and companies are utilising blogs, forums, and communities to build awareness and drive traffic to their sites.

One form of blogvertising is to become actively involved and start a business blog. There are many benefits to doing this but it’s certainly not for everyone, especially as maintaining an interesting and insightful blog does take time. For more information see our guide to business blogs .

"This notion of self-publishing, which is what Blogger and blogging are really about, is the next big wave of human communic...

Building a Successful Viral Marketing Campaign

Some products are more suited to viral advertising than others, but in general almost any product or service can be advertised using viral marketing.

A successful viral marketing campaign always begins with the development of a quality viral, whether it's a video, image or interactive game. Some home-made videos do very well but in general it is advisable to hire a viral marketing company to develop a viral ad.

Quality content is vital but seeding a viral ad is equally important. Seeding refers to the placement of the viral marketing campaign. The top viral marketing companies work with many independent blogs, online newsletters, micro-sites and video content sites to ensure that the viral ad receives maximum exposure.

"It's a bit like wild fire. If there is one fire the chances of creating a blaze are minimal. If you start 1000 fires, you have a much better chance of creating an inferno!" Halpern Cowan Ltd, a viral marketing agency.

It is this seeding which is responsible for the rising cost of developing a successful viral marketing campaign.

Viruses only spread if they can be transmitted easily. It's no different with viral content. Display the viral content on your website, together with an 'Email a Friend' button. If posted on your blog add a line of links to the main social networking sites, such as:

Add to: YouTube | Digg | Furl | Blinklist | Yahoo! | Del.cio.us

3. Exploits common motivations and behaviours

The desire to be popular, liked and cool drives people, as does greed and the desire to be helpful. Design a viral ad that builds on these motivations, such as one containing humour or a special offer.

4. Utilises existing communication networks

Try to place your message into people's social networks. Viral marketing companies are particularly adept at doing this as they generate exposure for viral content through placing it on blogs, forums, email newsletters, social networks, as well as video sharing sites.

5. Scales from small to very large

Make sure that you can cope with the explosion of your message through building enough bandwidth into your website. There's nothing worse than having an excellent viral marketing campaign only for the results not to arise simply because your website couldn't cope with the volume of visitors.

6. Uses other people's resources

Try to use other people's websites to host your viral content, possibly by constructing it so that it offers a benefit to them and their readers. Article submission works in this way with websites accepting free articles because of the benefits offered to their visitors.

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